During the Divorce

This is the second and potentially the most intense phase of the divorce. It begins with the decision to move forward with divorce proceedings and will end at the time the decree and settlement are signed. At this point, other questions and issues rise to priority and need to be addressed:

• Who should keep the house?
• How much will it cost to live post-divorce?
• How much will maintenance and/or child support be?
• How can retirement accounts be divided?
• How can a business be valued?
• What is the value of health care benefits?

• Compile, organize and inventory financial assets and liabilities from statements and security certificates
• Assist in developing a complete Mandatory Case Disclosure, if needed
• Clarify and prioritize client’s financial short- and long-term goals and objectives
• Prepare a historical lifestyle analysis which includes current budget, and marital standard of living by establishing spending patterns through reviewing personal business checkbook registers, bank statements, credit card statements, brokerage statements, trust and partnership account statements and charitable giving
• Estimate extraordinary expenses for your children
• Uncover and disclose hidden assets and financial fraud by examining deferred salary income, uncollected bonus or commission, retirement plan abuse, expense account abuse, phony loans, cash narrative and in kind, personal and business tax returns
• Prepare detailed list of financial questions for formal and informal discovery
• Identify gaps in financial information
• Research of splits, reverse splits, name changes and buyouts of stocks, bonds and mutual funds to determine cost basis for pre-marital and marital assets
• Analysis of current complex financial compensation issues which includes pension plans, 401(k) plans, IRA accounts, stock option plans, employee benefits, salary deferred compensation plans, insurance policies, defined benefit and defined contribution plans
• Clarification of the financial issues involved in deciding how to divide assets such as keeping the house vs. taxable and tax deferred accounts in each specific case
• Comment on advisability of certain assets given client’s risk tolerance and needs
• Prepare illustrations based on proposed financial settlement with charts and graphs that depict, over a 5 to 30-year time frame, the income, after tax implications of child support, maintenance and sale of assets, cash flow, and net worth projections of husband and wife as compared to each other
• Propose alternative financial solutions for proposed settlements
• Calculate appropriate levels of life insurance to guarantee child and spousal maintenance payments
• Education on tax implications of splitting various assets, investments, pension plans, and other property
• Review the basics of a Qualified Domestic Relations Order (QDRO) (outsourced)
• Recommend tax strategies for minimizing taxes and maximizing net worth
• Compile notebooks with detailed indexes for financial statements and other material pertinent to your case
• Attend mediation, arbitration and court hearings
• Bring detailed indexed notebooks of financial information to mediation, arbitration and court hearings and use for quick reference in meetings
• Bring specialized divorce financial analysis software to mediation meetings to provide on-the-spot financial analysis to help resolve property distributions and examine the pros and cons of different divorce settlements
• Assist in preparation of exhibits for trial
• Testify as qualified expert witness on issues of personal lifestyle, projected cash flow needs and workability of settlement options

Benefits

• You gain a better understanding of your future financial picture
• You have better information from which to make decisions
• Help you to properly evaluate and negotiate settlement proposals based on your future goals
• Keep the focus on proposing fair and equitable settlements
• Promote a faster resolution on all financial matters for both spouses
• Minimize cost of divorce
• Increase your long term financial security by making sure you aren’t on a path to consume all of your assets earlier than expected
• Maximize your net worth by minimizing taxes through the efficient allocation of personal and real estate tax deductions
• Potentially lower legal and professional fees by expediting the settlement process by minimizing the need for expensive court procedures